Low CLI Purgatory

[Anonymous]

Some thoughts for Achieving (not the OP):

Your first question was about CC utilization.  The best approach is to keep your utilization low, but exact numbers are not worth worrying about it in your case.  That's because you have far greater issues with all your derogs.  Implementing AZEO and having the remaining card reporting a small balance is optimal, but it doesn't help you build your score over time.  (You can get the extra scoring points from AZEO any time you want.)  Certainly the advice you have received about needing to keep your utilization at 4% is mistaken.  For one thing it is wrong and for another it will induce you to spend money to maintain the 4% level.

Important side note: FICO considers all closed cards with positive balances as part of your utilization.  It considers the card as having a $0 credit limit but does add the amount you owe into the total utilization calculation.  The high level summary software that displays your utilization % often fails to include this.  Thus you might think you have a utilization of 3% when the FICO scoring algorithm considers it to be much higher. 

You mention your DTI.  I'd leave your DTI out of the discussion.  You'll help yourself best here by focusing just on your reports and your scores.  Neither reports nor scores consider income and therefore do not consider DTI.  Nor do FICO scores consider how much a car is worth.  FICO scores do consider how much an open loan has been paid down, which is done by comparing the amount you owe on the loan vs the loan's original amount.  That's a minor factor for you right now, however, and you should focus on your derogs.  If you want the bottom line, however, FICO likes it best when your open loans are mostly but not entirely paid off.

Derogs:

Some of these it sounds like will be dropping offf your reports soon.  My advice is to allow time to deal with these and therefore leave them out of the discussion.  You need to prune back your discussion to only the most important things.  Right now it is so long that most people are going to get lost and won't be willing to wade through all the text to try to help.

My advice is to head over to the rebuilding forum and begin focusing one by one on targeted derog issues to see if people can help you out.  Best wishes....

[Anonymous]

Thank you! 

I competely agree.  I know I was rambling, my apologies -- I wanted to be thorough.  

I can't seem to make any headway with the derogs so being patient is my best bet.  

Thanks again.

[MakingProgress]

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 This agency has threatened to sell my account to Resurgent to re-age it and further mess up my chances of a FICO score that isn't red or yellow.

Let them sell it.  It will not re-age the account.  It should drop off your reports based upon the DOFD not the date it is sold or re-sold.

[Anonymous]

I try my best to believe they will do the right thing and not reage the account some other way -- I've found them changing dates on documents before. 2/10/11 magically becomes 10/2/11 and you have to be so vigilant. 

CFPB tells me  the agencies  have no legal obligation to report accurate data, their only obligation is to address errors in a timely fashion.  They can put whatever they want in your file and then it becomes your job to get it out. 

And they have tried every sneaky trick in the book so i just get so darn frustrated.

[Kree]

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@Anonymous wrote:

CREDIT MIX

It sounds like you have no open installment loans.  If so, you should consider implementing the Share Secure Loan Technique, which is described in the first 2-3 posts of the thread below.  It will get you (roughly) another 30 points.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secure-technique/td-p/4506756

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I thought Student Loans counted as open installment loans even while in deferment. 

[Anonymous]

They've been paid off and the accounts are now closed.  I wish they were open, I can't fix some of FedLoan's mistakenly reported payment dates. So I now have an Alliant Credit Union SSL.

[Anonymous]

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@Kree wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

CREDIT MIX

It sounds like you have no open installment loans.  If so, you should consider implementing the Share Secure Loan Technique, which is described in the first 2-3 posts of the thread below.  It will get you (roughly) another 30 points.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secure-technique/td-p/4506756

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I thought Student Loans counted as open installment loans even while in deferment. 

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@Anonymous Kree.  Good catch.  I told the OP that it sounded like he had no open loans because he wrote:

"Right now I only have 5 accounts - Walmart, Cap 1 QS, Fingerhut, Target , Merrick Bank card"

In fact he had more than those five accounts, since he later mentioned having open student loans, which I missed.

Our OP will not be helped by the SSL technique, but it sounds like the guy who has been getting advice from us later in the thread would be.

[Anonymous]

I've muddied the waters, I'm sorry... I'll go create my own thread.  thanks

[Anonymous]

Well, like BBS said earlier, you are welcome to be here.  Our OP may not be returning.  Shouldn't be that hard to distinguish you guys if he does come back.

On the other hand, creating a thread in the Rebuilding forum might be smart too.  You might even decide to pick one specific derog and let that be the subject of that thread.  Then, when you have gotten as much good advice as you can, create a thread for another derog.

[Anonymous]

Hey Credit Guy ! First let me say sorry for the delayed response. I didn't realize that I would have so many replies so quickly. Moreover, let me tell you thank you for taking the time to help, advise and enlighten me with credit techniques to help improve my situation. Can't tell you enough how appreciative I am.

Also, forgive me for the error in my title /topic heading. I meant to write credit score purgatory. I guess due to my recent cli denial I had that on my mind. Hope this clears that up for evryone. In terms of your questions about my credit specifics....here is where I currently stand :

Fingerhut Advantage - $1200 Open 1yr

Target RedCard - $1900 Open 1yr

WalMart CC - $150 Open 2 yrs.

Merrick Bank Mc - $600 2yrs.

Cap 1 QS - $750 11mths

Utilization Rate -  FH 5%, Target 65%, WM 10%, Merrick 80%, Cap1 40%

Late Payments - 1 late payment ( 30 day ) 2 years ago - WalMart. Perfect with all other accounts.